Baibhab

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BAIBHAB-A scam in verse

The story revolves around Samiran Choudhury, a 37 year old man, with a flair of writing poetry. His father Parikhit Choudhury is a wealthy retired Govt. officer. Samiran is haunted by an incident of his childhood. His younger brother died being run over by Samiran’s bicycle. Soon after this incident his mother also died out of grief. Both the tragic incidents left a deep scar in Samiran’s young mind. He suffers from a persecution complex and stammers whenever he is under stress. His father sends him to a boarding school in a hill station to save further psychological problems.

Samiran Choudhury grows up away from home and becomes a teacher in a college in Shillong teaching English Literature. He marries Manashi whom he met in Shillong but remains childess. Samiran feels a sense of inadequacy in his professional as well as in his personal life. He leaves his job and comes back to plains of Guwahati where the rest of his family resides. Now he makes an attempt to know more about his language and culture that he could not do earlier in the alien atmosphere of the hills. Manashi can not appreciate the new Samiran. The gap in his marriage widens and he finds a soul mate in Najneen, wife of a businnessman, Iftikar, Najneen is also a poet and is familiar with the nuances of Assamese language and literature.

Samiran’s childhood friend Bibhas is another senstive man with a poetic mind. Bibhas is from minority Bengali community but tries to assimilate with the majority Assamese. He is aware of Samiran’s childhood trauma. Bibhas’s mother compensates the loss of Samiran’s mother.

Samiran and Manashi decide to separate. Like Manashi, rest of the family members also fails to understand Samiran. He becomes an alien in his own home. The void in him expands when the CBI raids their house accusing Parikhit Choudhury of being involved in a huge financial scam. Probal Baruah, the CBI officer and an admirer of Samiran’s poetry, accuses the later of acquiring his present status with the tainted money of his father. This bitter truth heightens the sense of guilt in Samiran’s sensitive mind.

Parikhit Choudhury is arrested but released on bail later. Najneen, Iftikar and his sister Farha with whom Samiran had a physical encounter left Guwahati without telling Samiran once they lost the court case on ownership of their residence. His brother Mriganka and his wife Gorima decide to return to England to provide a better atmosphere to their son Baba, who is very fond of Samiran. At this juncture Bibhas’s mother dies. In this period of intense agony and conflict, Samiran composes his second Assamese poem ‘BAIBHAB’ and asks Bibhas his opinion on it. Bibhas accuses Samiran of being insensitive and selfish to ask him to read poetry when his mother has just expired. Samiran is shattered by these turn of events and runs away from his home, relatives and friends to discover himself.

Parikhit Choudhury informs police and Probal Baruah goes in search of Samiran. He finds Samiran in a far off village, amongst the simple village folks, happy and content. Samiran tells the CBI officer that the reason of his exile from the earlier life is both to find his roots and to atone himself from the sins of acquiring his high social status with the tainted money of his father. Probal Baruah relises that Samiran has finally found himself and his roots. He returns to find the rest of Samiran’s family and friends celebrating Samiran’s birthday in the sandbed where Samiran used to come and compose his Assamese poems. Bibhas reads out the poem ‘BAIBHAB’. The family and the friends of Samiran finally understand the true self of Samiran and his quest for his roots.